U.S. Treasury

Daily Market Commentary for February 23, 2009 from Millennium-Traders.Com

The U.S. government stands firmly behind the banking system during this period of financial strain to ensure it will be able to perform its key function of providing credit to households and businesses. (read more)

Economic data released today: n/a

At the NYSE closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, here is how the major world indices and major U.S. stock indices ended the trading session on the world markets as well as the emerging markets including the stock market closing bell price:
DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) triple digit loss of 250.73 points to end the trading session at 7,114.94
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) triple digit loss of 170.73 points to end the trading session at 4,633.78
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) loss of 53.51 points to end the trading session at 1,387.72
S&P 500 (SPX) loss of 26.72 points to end the trading session at 743.33
BEL 20 (BEL20) loss of 14.78 points to end the trading session at 1,725.58
CAC 40 (CAC40) loss of 22.68 points to end the trading session at 2,727.87
FTSE100 (UKX100) loss of 38.33 points to end the trading session at 3,850.73
NIKKEI 225 (NIK/O) - Closed Feb 23 - triple digit loss of 141.27 points at the end the trading session at 7,416.38

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 456, declined stock prices 2,686, unchanged stock prices 73, stock prices hitting new highs 4 and stock prices hitting new lows 401. NYSE quotes for volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the New York Stock Exchange stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: Apache (NYSE: APA) stock price shed 4.34 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $65.23, low on the trading session $59.42, with a closing stock price at $59.50; ProShares Ultrashort S&P 500 (NYSE: SDS) stock price gained 6.25 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $97.68, low on the trading session $89.02, with a closing stock price at $97.27; BP plc (NYSE: BP) stock price shed 1.45 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $40.52, low on the trading session $38.53, with a closing stock price at $38.65; HealthSpring (NYSE: HS) stock price shed 4.83 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $13.89, low on the trading session $9.67, with a closing stock price at $9.98; Wells Fargo & company (NYSE: WFC) stock price gained 0.12 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $12.95, low on the trading session $10.56, with a closing stock price at $11.03; Humana (NYSE: HUM) stock price shed 9.71 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $36.86, low on the trading session $30.19, with a closing stock price at $30.83; Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU) stock price shed 1.34 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $19.52, low on the trading session $17.10, with a closing stock price at $17.17; ProShares Ultrashort Financials (NYSE: SKF) stock price gained 13.74 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $201.99, low on the trading session $175.61, with a closing stock price at $201.99; ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI) stock price shed 1.54 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $118.08, low on the trading session $112.35, with a closing stock price at $116.01; ProShares Ultrashort Real Estate (NYSE: SRS) stock price gained 10.11 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $83.27, low on the trading session $69.94, with a closing stock price at $82.39; Direxion Financial Bear 3X (NYSE: FAZ) stock price gained 7.01 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $79.51, low on the trading session $64.74, with a closing stock price at $79.51; CME Group (NYSE: CME) stock price shed 8.88 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $186.46, low on the trading session $172.45, with a closing stock price at $172.95; Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) stock price shed 1.67 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $18.21, low on the trading session $15.37, with a closing stock price at $16.27.

National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 602, declined stock prices 2,204, unchanged stock prices 131, stock prices hitting new highs 4 and stock prices hitting new lows 374. NASDAQ quotes, volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the NASDAQ stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG) stock price shed 15.47 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $349.80, low on the trading session $329.55, with a closing stock price at $330.98; American Science & Engineering (NasdaqGS: ASEI) stock price shed 5.83 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $75.25, low on the trading session $64.24, with a closing stock price at $68.87; First Solar Incorporated (NasdaqGS: FSLR) stock price shed 4.42 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $138.30, low on the trading session $124.75, with a closing stock price at $129.59.

Market trends on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 173, declined stock prices 384, unchanged stock prices 70, stock prices hitting new highs 6 and stock prices hitting new lows 34.

Chicago Board of Trade Futures Market for the day, at time of this posting:
E-mini S&P 500 (ES) Mar 09: End of trading session price 744.25; Change for the trading session -25.25
E-mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) Mar 09: End of trading session price 1,137.00; Change for the trading session -34.75
E-mini DOW $5 (YM) Mar 09: End of trading session price 7,113; Change for the trading session -239
E-mini S&P MidCap 400 (MF) Mar 09: End of trading session price 449.20; Change for the trading session -14.50
E-mini S&P Small Cap 600 (HS) Mar 09: End of trading session price 7,135; Change for the trading session -125

World Currencies for the Forex Market, for Forex Trading by active Forex Traders, at time of this posting:
Euro 0.7868 to U.S. Dollars 1.2709
Japanese Yen 94.510 to U.S. Dollars 0.0106
British Pound 0.6905 to U.S. Dollars 1.4483
Canadian Dollar 1.2501 to U.S. Dollars 0.7999
Swiss Franc 1.1682 to U.S. Dollars 0.8560

COMMODITY MARKETS:

Energy Sector - Nymex:
Light Crude (March 09) shed $1.59 on the trading session for a closing price of $38.44 per barrel ($US per barrel)
Heating Oil (April 09) shed $0.02 on the trading session for a closing price of $1.17 a gallon ($US per gallon)
Natural Gas (April 09) gained $0.06 on the trading session for a closing price of $4.10 per million BTU ($US per mmbtu.)
Unleaded Gas (March 09) shed $0.03 on the trading session for a closing price of $1.04 a gallon ($US per gallon)

Metals Markets - Comex:
Gold (April 09) shed $7.20 on the trading session for a closing price of $995.00 ($US per Troy ounce)
Silver (March 09) shed $0.04 on the trading session for a closing price of $14.45 ($US per Troy ounce)
Platinum (April 09) shed $16.20 on the trading session for a closing price of $1,082.00 ($US per Troy ounce)
Copper (May 09) gained $0.02 on the trading session for a closing price of $1.45 ($US per pound)

Livestock and Meat Markets - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (cents per lb.):
Lean Hogs (April 09) gained 0.30 on the trading session for a closing price of 58.23
Pork Bellies (May 09) shed 0.20 on the trading session for a closing price of 75.65
Live Cattle (April 09) gained 0.53 on the trading session for a closing price of 83.95
Feeder Cattle (March 09) shed 0.13 on the trading session for a closing price of 89.68

Other Commodities - Chicago Board of Trade (cents per bushel):
Corn (May 09) gained 1.75 on the trading session for a closing price of 361.25
Soybeans (May 09) gained 12.75 on the trading session for a closing price of 876.00

BOND MARKET:

2 year Bond Closing price 99 28/32, change 1/32, Yield 0.93, Yield change -0.01
5 year Bond closing price of 99 20/32, change 1/32, Yield 1.82, Yield change -0.01
10 year Bond closing price 99 25/32, change 5/32, Yield 2.77, Yield change -0.02
30 year Bond closing price 99 18/32, change 25/32, Yield 3.52, Yield change -0.04

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Interesting,

Sadly, it is too late to save U.S. economy in my opinion. For two years I have been saying the dollar is doomed, and just as expected, with banks collapsing left and right, bailouts that need bailouts, what a joke on the American taxpayer.

With stock market now half of value it was just a few short months ago, and now the second country has gone under and is bankrupt, this is not a short term recession we are facing, it is a full blown depression as I see it. The world markets were again shaken by declining markets in U.S., combined with a total lack of trust of gov. decisions over and over again.

Success to all, Mike

The government & the administration need to show confidence in the banking industry.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ForexExpert

The government & the administration need to show confidence in the banking industry.

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Agreed,

But the real problem is the American taxpayer no longer has any confidence in government, former or current administration or banking which gov. has allowed to rip all us taxpayers off while they got sweetheart deals, or better put, many in congress got personal gains at the expense of taxpayer.

Most people are clueless of what government has been pulling on the off on the U.S. taxpayer, but they will soon learn the truth with this current stimulus package approval. The below will highlight just how severe this problem is, not matter what lies we hear from our leaders in government, don't believe any of the BS we heard last night from Obama.

Here is the best example of what a trillion dollars really is, and why it will be impossible to handle this debt load while the printing presses are humming in the background of last nights speech. This is a real eye opener. Talk is cheap, and so is the American dollar, about to totally collapse as many experts are reporting.


WHAT IS A TRILLION DOLLARS?

With the economic stimulus package estimated to cost around one trillion dollars, and Obama stating on January 7th that "he is admitting to trillion dollar budget deficits for years to come" here are some analogies that express the absurdity of the current situation in the United States.

First - the math:
1 (one)
10 (ten)
100 (one hundred)
1,000 (one thousand)
10,000 (ten thousand)
100,000 (hundred thousand)
1,000,000 (one million)
10,000,000 (ten million)
100,000,000 (hundred million)
1,000,000,000 (one billion)
10,000,000,000 (ten billion)
100,000,000,000 (hundred billion)
1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion)

Now the analogies:

First analogy: If someone spent one million dollars per day each and every day since Jesus was born, it would take another 731 years (beyond today) before one trillion dollars was spent.
$1,000,000,000,000 / $1,000,000 per day = one million days
one million days / 365 = 2740 years
2740 - 2009 = 731 (years remaining)
Second analogy looks at a million, a billion, and a trillion in terms of seconds. One million seconds comes out to be about 11½ days. A billion seconds is 32 years. And a trillion seconds is 32,000 years!

The third analogy puts dollar bills end to end. If you laid one dollar bills end to end, one trillion dollars would stretch nearly from the earth to the sun. It would take a military jet flying at the speed of sound, reeling out a roll of dollar bills behind it, 14 years before it reeled out one trillion dollar bills!
But the last analogy is the one that absolutely blows my mind. If you took freshly minted ***** new $1,000 dollar bills and starting stacking them one on top of another, it would take a stack over 68 miles high to reach one trillion dollars!
It’s become almost surreal, like we are in a bad dream or something!

Do a search for I.O.U.S.A. for video on just what the real debt load is for us taxpayers. This will shock you, as it has everyone who has watched this excellent economic overview on U.S. economy.

Success to all, Mike

and lifelong politicians in both the Democratic and Republican parties will retire with their pockets full while working class Americans get the BOOT....again.....both Parties...I repeat...both Parties...are to blame for this...we[working class people] dont have a party for us...they both claim to be for the American people when in reality they are for themselves....and you can take those F****** Lobbyists and throw them in the ocean for all i care about...retired ex-politicians that cut deals with our congressmen and senators while paying them major bucks under the table...all B-A-L-O-N-E-Y....if you ask me...its a sad situation indeed....Pat